Making the Difference

Health and Well-Being

The Difference Between
feeling vulnerable and having the energy to achieve

A child who cannot see the blackboard cannot learn. A teen who grows up without healthy relationships cannot create her own. A young person in a violent home has scars that cannot heal on their own. Our integrated services for children ensure that young people and their families have the supports they need to get and stay healthy—physically, psychologically and socially.

Health and Well Being

81,000 medical, dental and mental health service visits were made by 14,000 student patients in Children’s Aid Society community school and center-based clinics.

642 foster care children were provided with safe homes.

The Go!Kids program taught 1,028 pre-school children lessons about healthy eating and exercise.

We make care accessible by bringing medical, dental, mental health and counseling services, as well as facilitated public health insurance enrollment, to their neighborhoods via their community schools and community centers.

As children transition into adolescence and through their teen years, Children’s Aid’s programs grow with them to meet their changing needs; in addition to medical and dental care and mental health services, age-appropriate pregnancy prevention, family planning and teen-oriented healthy relationship training are added. Knitted together by committed peer and adult role models, the Children’s Aid web of support helps vulnerable young people make good, healthy choices as they move towards independence.

In July, our innovative domestic violence support services program, Family Wellness, received a grant from the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development, to allow it to expand in Washington Heights, East Harlem and Central Harlem. At the core of this program, and all Children’s Aid programs, is the need to foster healthy relationships—between friends or romantic partners, within families and out in the wider community. This creates a strong foundation young people can build on throughout their lives.